Weapons of Mass Destruction
by Royscalo
Summary: ON HIATUS.  One group of survivors.  One infected infiltrator.  One helicopter.  One army base.  Who will survive?  ALL CHARACTERS ACCEPTED!
1. Application and Character List

Yay! I am restarting Armageddon! I have 12 spaces for characters, but some are reserved. There are 4 reserved spaces: zackt2010, Oggytheogre321, angie2282, and Zac-MentosGoBoom. The other eight are free game, but it's first come first serve! If you post a character after all eight spaces have been filled, then your character will either be a minor character or not be in the story at all! I will accept submissions for minor characters in the middle of the story, though.

Here's the form:

**Name:**

**Nickname (if any):**

**Age:**

**Sex:**

**Physical Description:**

**Clothing:**

**Personality:**

**Phobia:**

**Favorite Weapon:**

**Favorite Thing in the Whole Wide World: (ex: Tallahassee and Twinkies in Zombieland)**

**Most Hated Type of Special Infected:**

**Blood Type (you'll know why later):**

I also need suggestions for a setting. I was thinking of something to do with a beach resort, or a ski resort, but it is your pick! Be quick to create characters!

**Update:** There are now 4 character spaces left, with two of them reserved by angie2282 and Dance in the Moonlight. Here are the filled spaces:

1) Austin Murphy (GeneralGunnut)

2) Max Abernathy (zackt2010)

3) Mila Abernathy (zackt2010)

4) Wolfgang "Wolf" Thompson (WeisseTod)

5) Ken (kynmarcher17)

6) Robert "Bob" Boston (Oggytheogre321)

7) Cody Fischer (Zac MentosGoBoom)

8) Cliff Compton (crunkn40) Not exactly sure I'm gonna use the nickname :)

**Update:** Angie2282 never replied, so I let one more character in. Sorry, Kara Medyx, but your character will not be a main character. The added four characters are:

9) Jackson Tores (jamesss)

10) Talitha "Tallie" McGaverd (AlphabetSoupBrah)

11) Michael "Ghost" Colt (Oldsong)

12) Ava Bolger (Dance In The Moonlight)


	2. New Friends

**Author's Note:** Okay, here's a recap on the Armageddon Crew: Austin Murphy (GeneralGunnut), Max Abernathy (zackt2010), Mila Abernathy (zackt2010), Wolfgang "Wolf" Thompson (WeisseTod), Ken (kynmarcher17), Robert "Bob" Boston (Oggytheogre321), Cody Fischer (Zac-MentosGoBoom), Cliff Compton (crunkn40), Jackson Tores (jamesss), Talitha "Tallie" McGaverd (AlphabetSoupBrah), Michael "Ghost" Colt (Oldsong), and Ava Bolger (Dance in the Moonlight). Here are three minor characters from people who didn't make it in time (and me): Kara Strait (Kara Medyx), Lance (Dodgerjoey), Todd Koan (cyverb), and Gregory Liu (myself). Now, to the story!

Talitha McGaverd. Known to few as Tallie. She had a slender figure, with slight muscles and fair skin. She was 20 years old. She was 5 foot 7, had wavy, brown waist length hair. She wore an unflattering knee-length floral dress. It was not comfortable. She sat in one of the single chairs left in the chapel. It was the tenth of October, 2010. Three days after her birthday. Her wedding day. It was horrible.

The infection of the United States had struck while the wedding had been going on. The US was supposedly the last safe place in the world besides Madagascar, but the latest strain had been sent by bio-terrorists on a plane, and the infection was all over. All of the wedding-goers had been killed besides her. She had hidden in an ice locker while the others had disappeared into the night, presumably becoming infected themselves. Now she was the only one left. She started to cry.

Outside the chapel, a man heard the crying. His name was Austin Murphy.

"Witch." he muttered. Austin was also 20 years old, and had brown hair and brown eyes. He was about 5 foot eleven, lean, and was starting to grow a beard. He wore tiger-striped camo gear, a black combat vest, black combat boots, and a boonie hat.

Austin held an AK-47. He slowly opened the chapel door, turning off his flashlight. Tallie looked up. Austin pulled up his gun. He walked up to her. Tallie saw the gun.

"Don't shoot!" she screamed. Austin flinched, backing up.

"What the fuck…I thought everybody else was dead!" he said. "…or infected."

"What's with the gun? You go around shooting sick people? I thought the infection made your legs weak and you couldn't move very fast, but it made you really aggressive…"

"The infection has changed. Now the infected are fast, even more aggressive, and some have mutated into bizarre creations. I thought you were a Witch."

"What's a Witch?"

"A mutated Infected, known for her sharp claws and deadly aggression. She will kill you quick and is startled by loud sounds and bright lights."

"You sound like you're reading from a trading card. What did you do, make up the name yourself?"

"No, the government's named them. The whole continent is covered with infected. Come with me. I can help you."

"Really?" asked Tallie.

"Yes." said Austin, smiling.

A teenage girl picked her way across the wreckage of the recently crashed truck, looking for provisions. Her name was Ken. She was 18, 5'8, and weighed 135 pounds. She was Caucasian, and had brunette hair going halfway down her back. She also had light grey eyes.

Ken wore a black long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and grey converse sneakers. She wore a silver choker with big, thick chains. As she dug through the metal, she came across a dark green backpack. She opened it up, and inside was a bag of…Reece's Cups. Ken smiled.

Tallie and Austin stumbled through a dark alley in the same town as the chapel. Tallie was having trouble walking on her uncomfortable flats, but she managed to keep up with Austin. Right around the corner, Ken was walking, holding the backpack in her left hand. As they both turned the corner, they walked into each other.

"Ken?" said Austin.

"Austin?" said Ken.

"You know each other?" asked Tallie.

"We knew each other before the infection hit, yeah." said Austin. "I talked to her in a coffee shop in Queens about two months ago. I never heard from her again, and then I found the safe room, stocked with food, first aid, and weapons. I assumed she was dead."

"I almost did die." muttered Ken.

"Come on, let's get to the safe room." said Austin. He took the backpack from Ken and motioned for her to follow. She nodded and tagged along with Tallie and Austin.

About 20 minutes later, Tallie, Ken, and Austin arrived at the safe room. All Tallie could look at was the door. The door was big, made out of red steel, with long scratches and large dents in it. There was a DANGER sign stuck to it, and steel bars formed its window. The inside of the door had a large bar which you could drag to lock the door.

The inside was like a small apartment. There were two beds and a pile of blankets on the floor, and a pantry was built into the wall. There was a small generator attached to a light bulb and a refrigerator. There was a ladder going up to a top area, where there was a first aid cabinet filled with supplies, and a few weapons: three AK-47's, an axe, a baseball bat,a Glock pistol, and a chrome shotgun.

"Whoa." muttered Talitha. On the top area was another red steel door, presumably the exit. Tallie was about to enter, but Austin blocked her way.

"Something's wrong. The light wasn't on when I left…"

There was a yelp and some…thing dropped down from the top area. He…it…had a large amount of muscle on his upper back. It was hunched over, and had unruly short hair. The skin around its lips was ripped and torn, and it wore a loose white t-shirt and blue boxers. It smiled, and jumped toward them.

"What the fuck!" screamed Tallie. The thing jumped at Ken, grabbing at her hair. It suddenly leaped even higher and landed on her neck, pulling her towards the alley entrance. Austin raised the AK-47 and let loose a short boost of fire, and blood sprayed from the thing's ugly head. It dropped off Ken's neck and fell onto the cold pavement, creating a pool of blood.

"What in the world is that?" asked Tallie.

"Jockey." muttered Austin. "Or Back-Humper. Your choice." Austin put down the gun and entered the safe room, motioning for them to follow. Tallie took one more look at the Jockey, and then followed Ken and Austin inside.

**Author's Note:** Okay, this was a bit of a short chapter, but it was only introducing Ken, Austin, and Tallie, and the chapters after this will be longer. In the next chapter we'll be introduced to Mila and Max Abernathy, Wolf Thompson, and Cliff Compton. Make sure to review. For people who's characters haven't been introduced yet, don't worry, I didn't forget about them, but it might take a while to introduce them.


	3. A Meeting

**Author's Note:** Thanks to Oggytheogre321, zackt2010, Dance In The Moonlight, crunkn40, GeneralGunnut, jamesss, Kynmarcher17, and AlphabetSoupBrah for reviewing. Now, on to the story!

Wolfgang "Wolf" Thompson scrambled alongside the grey alarmed car, pulling out his Magnum and firing behind him. The Hunter chasing him was smiling (if you could say zombies could smile), its red-puffed eyes locked onto its target. The Hunter's hoody's chain jingled as he leapt up into the air.

Wolf was 22 years old, with dark brown hair that reached his shoulders and green eyes. He had a scar across his left cheek. He wore a plain maroon long-sleeved shirt, a white t-shirt stretched over it. He also had denim jeans, black sneakers, and gray hoody, which was unzipped and the hood was put down. He also wore black padded gloves. He was tall, but not as fast as a Hunter. Wolf ran along the street, desperately trying to get away from the Hoody-Freak.

The Hunter pushed Wolf to the ground and started clawing at his shirt.

"God damn it!" yelled Wolf. He reached for his P90, but it was slightly out of reach. If only…

The Hunter ripped his shirt, cutting his skin.

"That was my favorite shirt!" yelled Wolf. He pushed the Hunter off of him, pulling a bent tire iron off the ground, and started beating the Hunter with it. "Nowhere to run now, eh?" laughed Wolf. The Hunter yelped and trying to jump away, but Wolf grabbed his hood.

"Piece of shit." he said, and aimed the Magnum into the back of the Hunter's head. Blam! Pieces of bone and mutated brain splattered across the street in front of the now-dead Hunter.

Wolf gingerly touched the scratch on his chest, looking up. In the distance, he could see shadows dancing on the walls of buildings.

"Oh, crap." he muttered, picking up the tire iron and stuffing the Magnum in his pocket. He latched the iron onto a fire escape ladder and pulled it down to himself. The Horde poured out into the streets, racing after him. Suddenly, he heard a few roars.

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit!" Wolf yelled, climbing onto the ladder. With nothing holding it to the ground, the ladder whooshed back up, all the way up to the roof. When it reached the top, the ladder stopped with a jolt, throwing Wolf through the air.

"Aaugh!" Wolf yelled as he slammed into an air duct, and a loud crack was heard. Wolf peered down over the ledge. The Tank he had heard was throwing members of the Horde left and right, trying to reach him. Wolf fired at him with his P90, sometimes missing the Tank entirely and killing members of the Horde instead.

In the distance, Ken, Austin, and Tallie heard the fire of the P90.

"Jesus." muttered Austin. "There's someone else out there."

Wolf continued to fire at the Tank when, suddenly, he shot the gas tank of the car he had hidden behind while being attacked by the Hunter. The car exploded, flinging Infected through the air, and driving a large metal shard into the Tank's back. He growled an earthly roar, and fell on top of several Infected, crushing them underneath him. The Tank was dead.

Down of the street below, Cliff Compton was startled by the sudden death of the Tank. He was fending off Infected with a broken baseball bat, barely keeping himself alive. He had watched Wolf zoom up the fire escape, and then kill the Tank single-handedly.

Cliff had never thought he would see another person alive again. He had been pushed out of a window during the initial infection while he had been in his bed-clothes, and had never found another set of clothes since. He wore a big black t-shirt, plaid pyjama pants, and a pair of sandals. He had found the baseball bat in his backyard and it had ended up breaking when a Smoker had pulled him off of a rooftop onto this street, but he had killed it by breaking the bat against its ugly face.

Cliff was Portuguese, and had short, dark, and wavy hair. He had dark skin and weighed 120 pounds. He hadn't eaten in a day or two. He had begun to develop arthritis in his left knee when the infection had started, and his beard was overgrown from the lack of shaving. Cliff was 32 years old.

Up on the roof, Wolf threw a newly made Molotov from his perch. It hit the roof of the blown-up car, and then Wolf spotted Cliff. The man looked old, but he was fending off the Infected pretty well. Wolf ran over to the fire escape and started climbing down the broken stairs.

Cliff was still beating the crap out of the Horde members when he noticed Wolf climbing down the fire escape. That split-second when he was distracted, something took its turn. The next second Cliff felt himself being lifted clear off the ground. And as he looked up he noticed the small head and beaten features of the Charger.

The Charger plowed through the Infected, slamming Cliff into a wall. Cliff heard a crack as his arm was crushed against the ground. The Charger picked him up and slammed him into the ground once again.

"Jesus, freakin' asshole!" yelled Cliff as the Charger pummeled him into the ground. Suddenly, the Charger left go of Cliff, and looked down on him. It raised its huge, battered arm, and then…splat! The Charger's small head exploded, blood and bone splattering against the wall where the Charger had rammed Cliff. Cliff managed to look up.

Austin and Ken charged into the Horde, Ken with two automatic pistols and Austin with a crow bar and what looked suspiciously like a bag full of grenades slung over his shoulder. In reality, this bag was filled with spare pistols and a chrome shotgun.

Austin swung the crow bar left and right, giving Infected moderately sized dents in their heads. Ken ran over to Cliff, helping him up.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I don't know." muttered Cliff. His shoulder and arm throbbed with pain where the Charger had crushed him. Ken threw him a pistol, while he thought 'I don't know how to use this.'

More Infected died as Ken and Austin assaulted them left and right, and them Wolf jumped off the fire escape and entered the fight.

It was now Ken, Austin, Cliff, and Wolf against the Horde. Tallie was hidden in the shadows, clutching a small pocketknife, waiting for the others to get rid of the Horde. But the other four were being overwhelmed. Just then, a loud war horn was heard.

The owner of this horn was Max Abernathy. His sister, Mila Abernathy, smacked him on the arm.

"Cut it out!" she said, and then rushed forward to help Ken, Austin, Cliff, and Wolf. Mila was 22, while Max was 19. They both had matching dark brown eyes. Max had dark brown hair, while Mila had shoulder-length brown hair.

Mila wore a white tank top, with a leather jacket over it. She wore dark blue jeans, tucked into black boots. She had a scarf wrapped around her neck, and she had a pair of sunglasses in her pocket. Max wore a navy-blue t shirt, with a black hoody over it. He also wore a pair of blue jeans and black boots.

Max waved his shotgun around, wildly firing and trying to act like the action hero. Mila, on the other hand, was carefully aiming her shots from her Uzis, splattering Infected brains all over the streets. Soon, with the help of Max and Mila, the Horde dissipated The threat was gone.

"Ok, first things first." said Mila. "Who are you?"

"I'm Austin, and this is Ken and Tallie." said Austin, indicated Tallie hiding in the shadows. "Who are you?"

"I'm Wolf."

"Cliff."

"And I'm Mila, and this is my immature brother Max."

"Hey!" Mila elbowed her brother in the ribs. "Anybody get bitten?" asked Mila. Wolf glanced at the cut in his shirt and skin.

"No." he muttered. "Why?"

"Apparently, the Green Flu can be contagious. Only certain people are immune, like my brother and I. Some are carriers: people who can be mildly affected by the Green Flu, but all they really do is carry the virus to someone else. And then there are people who are neither – the people who are already Infected or people just waiting to get bitten."

"Never heard that theory before." muttered Austin. "Anybody here have an actual base of operations? Tallie, Ken, and I have a small safe room, but it's not big enough for seven people."

"I've been hiding out among the streets." said Cliff.

"Same with me." said Wolf.

"Well, we have a whole building we have barricaded against the Infected. I suggest we go there now." said Max. Wolf nodded, and Mila and Max motioned for them to follow. Austin, Tallie, and Ken looked at each other, and then reluctantly followed Wolf, Mila, and Max. Cliff, with nothing else to do and in need of a new weapon, decided to follow the group to the hideout of the Abernathy's.

**Author's Note:** So now Max, Mila, Wolf, and Cliff have joined the fray. The next chapter will be all about the barricaded building and one last survivor, who will be the last of the eight beginning major characters. Around five chapters from now (or so), the last four will join the story. This next whole part of the story will center around the Abernathy's hideout, and then something will happen that will cause them to move. I have a feeling this story will go on for a while, but I can tell you this: in the end, not everybody will survive. Til' next chapter! See you soon!


	4. The Hideout

**Author's Note: **Okay, I really lied about there not being many deaths in this story. In the end, there will only be three survivors, but they will be selected by a random generator, and even I don't know what will happen. Also, in a week or so, I will be starting a new fanfiction called 'The Bounty Hunt.' It will be a bit like Contest (by Matt Reilly) and the new Predators movie. It will be a Crossover between Misc. Books and Aliens/Predator. Now, to reveal the hideout and the last of the beginning group!

Jackson Tores stumbled through the mud on the side of the road. Jackson was 13, and was around 5'4 and had short brown hair and brown eyes. Jackson wore his old school uniform, which was a shirt with a crest on it, khaki pants (covered in mud), and some old tennis shoes he had found. Jackson had been separated from his family when the infection had hit, and had been hiding out in the school until a few minutes ago.

When the Infection had started, Jackson was pounced by a Hunter in his school, and nobody was there to help him. He finally managed to kill it, but now he was left alone and was stumbling through the streets, looking for other people. Suddenly, in the distance, he heard shots. He started to run.

Jackson came around the corner and witnessed a conversation between a bunch of people.

"Never heard that theory before." said a man who looked a bit like the leader of the group. "Anybody here have an actual base of operations? Tallie, Ken, and I have a small safe room, but it's not big enough for seven people."

'Okay, so they just met.' thought Jackson.

"I've been hiding out among the streets." muttered a Portuguese man.

"Same with me." said the man holding the P90 and the tire iron.

"Well, we have a whole building we have barricaded against the Infected. I suggest we go there now." said the guy holding the war horn. He motioned for the others to follow, and they started to walk away. Jackson jumped out from his hiding place.

"Wait!" he yelled.

"What the fuck?" said Austin, as he turned around. "Where'd you come from?"

"Uh, I kind of listened in on your conversation." muttered Jackson. "I'm Jackson."

"Huh. Well, I'm Austin, and this is Ken, Tallie, Cliff, Wolf, Max, and Mila. But you'd better not sneak up on us again…" said Austin, cracking his knuckles. Jackson gulped.

About twenty minutes later, the eight survivors turned the corner to stand in awe in front of a giant, patched-up, worn, black building. It was barricaded everywhere, with a large turret mounted out of a window on the second floor. Max walked up to the giant metal slab of a door, and tapped seven numbers into the keypad.

"The combination is 1-2-3-4-5-6-7." said Max.

"Max!" yelled Mila.

"Very creative." muttered Austin. Max pushed open the giant metal door. It opened into a big hallway, with broken pieces of wood scattered all over the floor. There were three doors leading out from the hallway: the one of the right led to a room with a huge amount of mattresses and beds, the left led to a giant living room, with a kitchen in the corner. The last door led to the staircase. The living room had guns all over the place, including some of Max's prized possessions: another war horn, a huge samurai sword, a black mask, a small laptop, and what looked like a huge rocket launcher. The kitchen was stocked full with food and drinks, pillaged from the surrounding supermarkets. There was a whole cabinet filled with first aid, adrenaline, and pills. Two defibrillators lay on the counter, and a large assortment of pipe bombs, molotovs, and bile bombs sat on a shelf in the corner. There were a bunch of couches in front of a fireplace.

"Holy Toledo." muttered Cliff.

"Just wait until you see upstairs." said Max, smiling. He walked up the stairs and opened the rickety wooden door at the top. All the walls were blown out, but there was even more food and mattresses up here. But in the corner, next to the window with the giant turret, was Max's favorite possession: a large game system, which could only be Call of Duty 4.

"No freaking way." muttered Jackson.

"Seriously?" asked Wolf.

Downstairs, Mila was showing Tallie the large bedroom. In the corner, Tallie spotted the entrances to two bathrooms and a shower.

"Wow! Running water?" she asked. Mila pointed to the wardrobe next to them, and then motioned to Tallie's muddy and sweaty dress.

"Thanks." said Tallie, and took some clothes out of the wardrobe and went into the first bathroom to change. The wardrobe had all kinds of clothes, not just Mila's and Max's. There were Army uniforms, fancy clothes, and regular teenager wear.

"Most of it we got from the mall." said Mila. Tallie wondered about that. Upstairs, Wolf, Cliff, Jackson, Austin, and Max were still talking about the video game.

"How does that thing get any power?" asked Cliff.

"We made a generator, which provides power for the lights and this baby." said Max, smiling. Cliff nodded.

Ken was sitting on the couch in the living room, taking in her surroundings, when she heard a dull roar. She peered out one of the patched-up windows. A pack of Infected were running by, presumably chasing another survivor, but it was too late to help them now.

Then, one of the Infected saw her. Somehow, it motioned to the others, and then all of them were running toward the black building!

"Guys!" she shouted. "Horde!"

Max looked out the turret window and saw the mass of zombies running toward the building.

"Grab a gun!" he shouted. He tried to push his way to the stairwell, but he accidentally hit Wolf, and Wolf stumbled back into Cliff, who fell backwards onto the stairs. Cliff fell over the railing, landing on the floor below on his arm. A loud crack echoed throughout the house.

"God damnit!" yelled Cliff. Infected slammed into the door, and Ken fired her pistols out through the gap in the huge metal door. Max jumped into the turret, and all hell broke loose.

A Smoker's tongue shot through the window in the stairwell, grabbing Wolf and pulling him through. Austin jumped off the balcony and grabbed Wolf's foot before the zombies could rip him to bits, and pulled him back in.

A Charger slammed into the door, and Max quickly killed it with the turret. More and more Infected came, but Max killed them all very quickly. Austin cut the Smoker's tongue, while Mila helped Cliff into the bedroom to tend to his arm. The Horde was destroyed very quickly.

"Damn, that was quick." muttered Wolf. Jackson slid down the banister, and looked in on Cliff. Cliff had shaved his unruly beard and given himself a haircut, and tended to his twisted arm. He now didn't look like a homeless person anymore, but still couldn't run very fast due to his arthritis. Cliff got up slowly, testing his arm.

"I think it's good." he said. Mila smiled.

For that next week, the eight would live and eat in that house. Austin, Max, and Wolf slept on the top floor, while Jackson, Cliff, Ken, Tallie, and Mila slept on the bottom. One night, Austin found a small book hidden under his bed. It was titled 'The Infected'. He opened it to the first page. It looked like gradually more and more had been added onto this page. It read: "Hunter, Witch, Smoker, Boomer, Tank, Jockey, Charger, Spitter, and Screamer."

'Screamer?' Austin thought, just as a ear-splitting screech woke everyone up.

**Author's Note:** Oh no, Screamer! Decided to put him in. If you don't know what he is, he was a Cut Infected that would run away when he saw you, hide, and then attract the horde with his scream. The next chapter may or may not involve a character death, and I will be incorporating a supermarket into the story soon. Later on, I will also be making a few of my own Uncommon Infected. Make sure to review!


	5. Screamers

Austin's head exploded with pain. He stumbled out of his bed while the other seven were instantly woken up by the extremely loud screeches of the Screamer. The Screamer was standing outside the door of the hideout. It was wrapped in a straitjacket, and had a few grimy hairs covering its scalp. Its skin was a pale grey. Its eyes glowed yellow.

"Fuck! Shut him up!" yelled Cliff. Austin climbed down the stairs, managed to open the door, and fired his gun. The screaming didn't stop. The Screamer was running away! Austin chased after it, Tallie and Max following him.

Tallie held her baseball bat, but she couldn't keep up with Max and Austin sprinting after the Screamer. Suddenly, she was left all alone. Tallie looked around in horror.

"Oh great." She muttered. Austin was still running after the Screamer when he managed to shove his knife through its head. The Screamer dropped to the ground, its super loud screeching finished.

"Wait." Said Austin, noticing only Max. "Where's Tallie?"

Tallie ran through the Horde, dodging bites and punches thrown by the Infected. But out of nowhere, a large puddle of acid formed at her feet.

"Jesus!" she yelled, jumping over the acid, only to be wrapped in a slimy…tongue. The Smoker pulled her through the Infected, all the while letting them bite and beat Tallie. Then a few shots rang out. The Smoker's head exploded, and the Infected scattered. Tallie noticed some…woman…with a long neck running away, acid dripping from her mouth. Max ran over and unwound the tongue from her body.

"Thanks, Max." she said, smiling.

"No problem." He said. Just then, more acid appeared at their feet. "Ow!" yelled Max. Tallie and Max ran, the hideout door in sight. Then Max noticed it was open. Inside, a Charger was beating the hell out of Mila and Cliff. They were the only ones really awake, and Max had left the door open when he left.

Max fired about seven times, blasting the Charger into pieces. Austin arrived at the doorway, slightly out of breath. He closed the door behind him.

"Ok, what the hell was that?" asked Cliff.

"I don't know." replied Mila.

"Screamer." said Austin. "I found this notebook. I didn't get to read the rest of it, but it said something about a Screamer. I guess that's what that was."

"Go get it." said Max. Austin took the steps two at a time, and reached under his bed…finding nothing there. He looked on top of the bed, under the pillow, in the sheets, and everywhere else, but the book was simply not there.

"It's gone." breathed Austin.

"Could one of the Infected have taken it?" asked Tallie.

"I don't think so." replied Austin. He brought her and Wolf downstairs, while Mila pulled Jackson and Ken from their beds. They all gathered in the main room.

"I have a feeling that there is more than one Screamer." said Austin.

"How do you know?" asked Jackson.

"The book listed the Screamer with all the other Special Infected I know. There was also one other I didn't recognize: the Spitter. I have no idea what it is."

"I think I do." said Tallie, and everyone looked at her. "When Max saved me from the Horde, I had stepped over a puddle of acid, and then afterwards, there was this splash, and some acid appeared out of nowhere."

"What? So this Spitter essentially spits acid?" asked Jackson.

"Yeah." replied Max. "I saw it, too. Some long-necked bitch." Mila whacked him on the arm.

"Then that means that there is possibly even more Special Infected we don't know about. And there's also something I heard on the news before the power went out. There are certain kinds of Infected that have extra abilities, but they aren't Special Infected. For example: the Mud Men."

"What are those?" asked Mila.

"Some kind of Infected that crawl out of swamps, throwing mud at you and blinding you."

"What is that?" asked Jackson.

"What?"

"That." he said, pointing through the door. A Screamer stood there, its straitjacket hung loose.

"Oh shi…" started Austin. The scream rang through the air.

"God damnit!" yelled Cliff, grabbing a crowbar and chasing after it. The others followed, grabbing all kinds of weapons. As they ran, it sounded like more screams were building up.

"Is there…more than one?" asked Tallie.

"I think so." muttered Jackson. A Charger appeared from thin air, ramming into Mila and shoving her into the ground. Cliff fired once, twice, three times. Austin kept running towards what was now two Screamers.

"What is this, a goddamn infestation of Screamers?" yelled Max. He pumped his shotgun and fired next to Mila, exploding an Infected's head like a ripe watermelon. More zombies poured from the sidestreets, and soon the group was all but surrounded. Max smiled.

"Pipe bomb!" he shouted, throwing the pipe bomb he had in his shirt. It flew over everyone's heads, beeping loudly. It rattled across the road, coming to a stop underneath a car. Infected crawled all over it, and then…nothing.

"What?" muttered Max.

The car exploded, sending pieces of Infected and shrapnel all over the place. One large piece struck Tallie in the leg, making her cry out. Another whipped Max's har right off of his head.

"Damn." he muttered. Something ran into him, knocking him down onto the ground. Max looked up. The glowing eyes of a Screamer looked back at him. "Shit."

The screaming started up again…and then abruptly stopped, a knife halfway through the Screamer's head. Wolf stood there, his hand outstretched like he had just thrown something.

"Thanks." said Max. Wolf helped him up, and then looked around. "Shit."

Everyone was gone, except for Wolf, Tallie, and Max. A few streets away, Ken, Austin, and Mila trekked through the littered roads. Cliff and Jackson were standing in front of a large building. It was a skyscraper.

"Where'd everyone go?" asked Cliff.

"No damn idea." muttered Jackson.

Cliff, straining his knee, motioned for Jackson to follow him and set off to some glowing lights in the distance. Using the crowbar as a crutch, Cliff walked through the streets, Jackson following him.

"Fuck." said Ken, a few streets away. "Where did everyone go."

"Max?" Mila called out. There was no answer. Then, Mila and Ken saw some lights in the distance.

"What's that?" asked Austin.

"I don't know." said Ken, going to get a closer look.

Tallie stumbled through the streets, being held up by Max and Wolf. They were also going towards the strange lights in the distance. These strange lights turned out to be a supermarket. Its big neon lights were still on, displaying the name 'Buy Mart'.

"What in the world is this?" asked Wolf. Austin, Mila, and Ken appeared from around the corner, and then Cliff and Jackson soon after.

"What the hell? A supermarket? Where's the damn mall? The survivors always go to a mall in the damn movies!" said Cliff. The big glass doors slid open, almost inviting.

"Something's strange." said Wolf. Just then, the road shook, and everyone heard a loud roar.

"Tank!" shouted Max. He ran inside, the others following him. Tallie only just made it, her injured leg making her walk very slowly. Wolf and Max pushed over some shelves, blocking the doors and windows. He pushed over another shelf as a barrier, and then waited.

"Here he comes." said Mila.

**Author's Note: Oh no, Tallie is injured and a Tank is on the way! How will they hold against that? And some bad news: Next chapter, there will be the first character death! Oh noes! Who will it be? Also, I am asking you to please submit a character for my crossover: A Bounty Hunt. There is one fricking space left! Hurry, time is running out!**


	6. Supermarket

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the two upcoming deaths (one in this chapter, one in the next, and the first is not Tallie), but blame it on the random list generator at that I used. Not my fault who survived, either. Make sure to go to my profile and vote for my next fanfic! Oh, and sorry for the typos in the last chapter. Another note: Minor characters are only for one or two chapters and all they do is help the survivors to safety, often dying themselves. And now for the first minor character!

The Tank yelled, but even if he broke the glass there was no way for him to get in. Tallie and Jackson stumbled back, away from the glass and shelves. Tallie slumped down, her leg feeling like it was on fire.

"You okay?" asked Jackson.

"I don't know." muttered Tallie. The shrapnel was sticking at a sickly angle from her leg. It looked like a piece of the car's fender. Tallie pulled aside the ripped piece of fabric.

Her leg was horrifically mutilated. There was blood all down the side of her leg, staining her pants. The piece of metal was buried halfway into her leg, making a large flesh wound. Jackson gulped. Then he heard a large crash in the back of the store. Jackson straightened up. A girl stumbled out from behind a shelf.

Kara Strait looked up, her vision blurred. Kara was 21 years old, and had black hair and blue eyes. Kara took one glance at Tallie with her injured leg and Jackson with a bewildered look on his face before the shelf above her fell, hitting her on the head and knocking her out cold.

A few hours later, Austin was tending to Tallie's leg. He had managed to remove the shrapnel without too much damage, and had wrapped her leg neatly. Kara was still on the ground, unconscious. Nobody even knew what her name was.

Jackson stood in the corner, a small fire in front of him that he had created with some paper towels and his lighter. Cliff and Ken stood watching the Tank try to tear apart the barricade while more and more Infected gathered. Wolf was searching for edible food on the shelves, while Mila and Max were investigating the rest of the supermarket.

The barricade wasn't holding up to the Tank. He was very slowly tearing it apart. Kara slowly woke up, noticing the fire burning by her head. She screamed and backed up against the wall, and then calmed down. Tallie, Jackson, and Austin stared at her.

Kara looked lazily around her. The others looked back at her.

"Hi." Kara muttered. Then she saw the huge Tank tearing apart the front of the store, and her eyes got wide. "Oh no. Not him again."

"You've seen this Tank?" asked Cliff.

"Yep. And he almost killed me before, too." muttered Kara. Out of nowhere, Wolf appeared next to Kara.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Kara Strait." Kara muttered. "I have a little hideout here. Stocked with grenades and such." Max grinned, coming around the corner.

There was another loud bang, and then part of the shelf blocking the door broke.

"Guys, he's getting through." said Tallie. Austin turned around. The door simply exploded, and then a zombie walked in. It was about medium height, but wore a canvas suit and held a shotgun.

"What the fuck?" yelled Cliff. The zombie fired his gun, the bullets ricocheting off of the metal beams. The whole group ducked.

"It's a Grunt Infected." said Kara as she ran with the others. "Smart enough to wield a gun, dumb enough to kill itself with the gun."

"Doesn't look dumb to me." shouted Cliff. Max tripped over a pile of cereal boxes, and the Grunt Infected fired again, barely missing him. Then shelves started tipping over.

"The safe room is somewhere around here. Follow me!" shouted Kara.

"He's here!" shouted Wolf. Cans and boxes fell off of their shelves, hitting the group in the head. Suddenly, the wall busted open, a Hunter and the Tank running through. The Hunter literally tackled Max, but was quickly killed by Mila. The Tank stumbled through the aisle, angry red blotches dotting his skin. "Look out!" Wolf shouted again, but Kara was too late. As she stabbed the Tank in the head, it picked her up and with one giant RRIPPPP! Kara was torn in two. The halves slid across the floor, creating a wide puddle of blood. Her face was frozen in shock as her last signals to her brain were shut down and the Infected crowded around her, hungry for a good meal.

"Damnit!" yelled Wolf. The Tank swept him off of his feet and he slammed into the wall, hitting his head on a sharp corner.

"Wolf!" shouted Ken. She looked towards the others, and then ran towards Wolf. She managed to grab his arm and pull him through the group of Infected, and into the safe room Kara had been going on about. Wolf tripped over some boxes at the entrance, but barely made it into the safe room before Mila shut the door. Max threw a pipe bomb through the slot and waited, and then came the giant explosion. Max looked out. There was nothing.

"Great, he got away." muttered Max. Tallie cried out in pain. She had been pushed into the safe room by Austin, him being concerned for her safety, but she had landed on her injured leg. Ken pulled the bar across the door and sat down, breathing heavily.

"How are we going to get through this?" asked Tallie.

"We have to do the best we can." muttered Jackson. Just then, everyone heard the roar of the Tank as he tore apart the store, looking if they were hiding somewhere else. Wolf stuck his P90 through the door and fired a few times, but the roaring continued. Then, suddenly, the roaring died down.

"He's waiting for us." muttered Austin. Max stood up and started pacing around the small room. There wasn't much in the safe room, which explained why Kara had been wandering the store: she had been looking for food.

"We killed her." muttered Max.

"No, we didn't." said Mila. "The Tank just happened to follow us. It wasn't our fault."

"If you say so." said Max, sighing. Wolf twiddled his thumbs.

"What do we do now?" asked Wolf. He looked around glumly, but nobody had an answer. There was Tallie and Cliff with their injured legs, Austin (who was perfectly fine), himself, Max and Mila (who were very tired), Jackson (still in shock), and Ken (who had been beat around when she had rescued Wolf). Then Austin got up.

"We're gonna have to run." he said.

**Author's Note:** Like I said, minor characters only last one or two chapters, but they have vital points in the plot. Until next time, when a major character will die and the rest will escape from the supermarket!


	7. Sorrow

**Author's Note:** Oh my god! The computer actually worked for one day, so I quickly wrote this chapter before it messed up again. Man, Christmas is making me really eager this year! Hurry up, presents! I need a computer now! Hope you like this chapter…and unfortunately, the first major character death is in this chapter.

Tallie grunted in surprise. Run from the Tank? With her injury, to boot? Was Austin going insane.

"Austin, I…" started Tallie.

"I know." Austin replied. "I'll carry you. Don't worry." Tallie smiled, but it didn't last for long.

"He'll just follow us." said Jackson. "Probably all the way back to the base."

"Then we'll kill him." said Max.

"With what?" Max pointed to a bunch of shopping carts. "By toppling the shelves over with those carts."

"It's decided." said Austin. "We'll make a run for it."

Max pulled the bar across and slowly opened the door. No sounds could be heard. Austin went first, carrying Tallie, behind him Mila and Max, then Jackson, Wolf, Cliff, and Ken in the back. Max rushed over to carts. He thought he heard someone cough.

"Shut up!" whispered Max. The next second, a slimy tongue wrapped around his body and knocked him into the shelves.

As the others watched, that shelf fell over, knocking over the one behind, and a chain reaction was started. His feet bumped into the carts as he was pulled over them, and there was a huge rattle.

"Shit!" yelled Cliff. The Tank exclaimed from somewhere else in the store, and then they could hear him making his way toward them.

"Run!" shouted Austin.

Max cut the tongue from his body and fired his shotgun upwards. The Smoker's head exploded, blood and gore flying into the ceiling.

Max jumped across the tops of the shelves, making his way towards the front of the store. Down below, Austin dodged Infected and falling products, especially a giant jar of Nutella. Tallie held her injured leg and whimpered, waiting for it all to be over. If only she had just gotten married…

The shelf they were running under collapsed, hitting Austin on the head. He collapsed, dropping Tallie, who slid across the floor into the open.

Jackson found himself separated from everyone else. He stopped, panting. He looked in front of him. Pieces of meat littered the floor, and a large puddle of blood reflected the faulty lights. Jackson thought he could see Kara's knife in the shadows. He pictured Kara being torn in two…and the surprised look on her face.

"Argh!" shouted Jackson, grabbing his head. Another vision rocked his head, before he fell headfirst into the pool of blood. He rolled over as he hit the ground, creating a splash of blood. At least I can still breath, thought Jackson before he lost consciousness.

Wolf dodged the barrel of a Grunt's shotgun. He kicked the gun up in the air and punched the Grunt in the face. The gun fell back down, and the Grunt caught it. The Grunt aimed…and Wolf pulled the trigger on the P90, blowing the Grunt's chest open.

"Where the hell is the exit?" he muttered.

Cliff and Ken came across the entrance. They could hear sounds of battle coming from deeper within the store.

"Damnit. What are they doing?" muttered Cliff.

"Stay here." said Ken, as she ran back towards the shelves.

"Yeah, stay here, alright. And what do I do when you don't come back?" retorted Cliff silently.

The Tank lumbered towards Austin.

"Austin!" screamed Tallie. Ken heard her cry and rushed towards the two. The Tank knocked her backwards and picked up Austin. The Tank cut his arm, and blood spilled across the floor.

"No!" screamed Tallie. She grabbed a broken piece of shelf from the ground and stabbed it into the Tank's face. With a roar of anger, the Tank dropped Austin and knocked Tallie into the air. The Tank collapsed onto the ground, clutching his head.

Tallie slammed through the front window and into a parked car. Her spine quickly snapped, and she fell onto her face, silently screaming. A few seconds later, she stopped moving and one last tear fell from her eye.

"I'm sorry." was Tallie's last thought. "I'm sorry I didn't stay with you. I'm sorry I didn't save you." But who was she referring to?

Wolf and Max stumbled into the entrance. Cliff took them over to the door and gave Max a cloth.

"Freakin' headache." said Max.

"Damn it, Ken." muttered Cliff. "Hurry up." He counted off who was missing: Austin, Jackson, Mila, Ken, Tallie. Wait a second…

Cliff glanced through the window, seeing Tallie's broken form on the ground, a steadily growing pool of blood staining her shirt.

"Oh, shit." said Cliff. Max followed his gaze, then exclaimed in surprise. He pushed open the supermarket doors and ran towards the pickup truck. Tallie lay lifeless on the ground.

"No…" Max touched Tallie's hair. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't save you…"

Austin and Ken came running through the doors, coming to Cliff, Wolf, and Max.

"No!" shouted Austin. He kneeled down next to Tallie. "That Tank…"

"He's dead." said Ken, with absolutely no emotion whatsoever.

"What about Jackson and Mila?"

"I don't know." said Max. "My sister…"

Jackson suddenly woke up, spraying blood from his mouth. He jumped up and looked at his clothes. His shirt and pants were stained with Kara's blood, and he could feel it running down his face.

"How…" Jackson realized the sounds of battle had stopped. Had they left him?

A bullet ricocheted off of the shelf above him. A Grunt stood in front of him, shotgun pointed up. Jackson dove to the side, and the Grunt fired. Jackson kicked the zombie's legs from out underneath him, and grabbed the gun. His P.E. skills were paying off.

As he moved in for the kill, he heard a steady growling. Ducking behind a pillar, Jackson fired in the direction of the sound. The Hunter jumped on top of the shelf and looked toward him. The Hunter leaped down, but was quickly stopped when Jackson butted it in the face with the gun. He suddenly slipped on the blood, but steadied himself by grabbing the Hunter's head. The Hunter's eyes were all swollen, and his mouth was caked with blood.

Right before Jackson pulled the trigger, he thought he heard the Hunter say, "Gonna kill me, or what?"

"Am I going crazy?" said Jackson. The Hunter swiped its claws at his face, and the almost-dead Grunt grabbed his foot. Jackson quickly fired, blowing the Hunter's head off. He pointed the shotgun at the Grunt's head.

"Die." he said, and pulled the trigger.

"They aren't coming out." whimpered Max.

"I'll go." said Wolf.

"So will I." said Max. "She's my sister."

The two ventured inside the store, on the lookout for more Infected.

"Well, that wraps that up." said Jackson, talking to himself again. He stepped forward into the puddle of blood and slipped, hitting his head on the shelf.

"Ugh." muttered Jackson, before falling unconscious. The different-colored blood swirled around his mouth.

Two minutes later, Max and Wolf came across Jackson.

"What the hell? Is he dead?" asked Max, very worried.

Wolf nervously reached down and felt his pulse. He let out a sigh of relief.

"He's alive." said Wolf.

"Whew." Wolf took hold of Jackson's arms, and Max took his legs.

Ken witnessed Wolf and Max carrying Jackson through the door.

"Is he okay?" asked Austin.

"He's knocked out, but he's alive." said Wolf. They set him down on the ground next to a blue sports car.

"But where's Mila."

"I don't know…where is my sister?" exclaimed Max.

"I think I can help with that." came a voice from the store entrance, and the five survivors spun around to see who it was.

**Author's Note:** A moment of silence for the first major character to die in this story: Talitha McGaverd. Now, I wonder who this new character is? And what's up with Jackson? Will he wake up? Unfortunately, Mila disappeared during this chapter. Don't worry, for Christmas you'll find out what happened to her!


	8. To and Fro

**Author's Note:** Insert apology here I guess it's just too hard to write three stories at once for me. Well, enjoy this chapter while you can, and hopefully I'll be able to write a nice chapter for you in less than a week.

Cody Fischer bounded through the streets, clenching his fire axe with an iron-hard grip. Sweat dripped from his forehead, and blood ran from the gash on his shoulder. It had been a very close call. Portland Theater, at the center of town, had been absolutely filled with zombies. He hadn't meant to leave Greg behind, but hopefully he could survive until Cody got some help...

Turning the corner, Cody was met with the remnants of a pileup, the cars strewn across the road, blocking his path. Cody cursed, his blue eyes shaking in their sockets.

Zombie blood caked his shaggy brown hair, sweat covered his hands, and his blood was splattered across the front of his brown-and-green striped shirt. Cody was a wreck, but there was no where he could go to hide. Infected swarmed through the streets.

Cody grabbed the roof of a nearby car and swung his legs up onto the hood. Cody couldn't climb that well...he was a bit short. The 24-year-old-man jumped to a telephone pole and began to shimmy his way upwards. He could see the the roof of a nearby building had been destroyed and was touching the pole. The roof was his escape. There would be no zombies on the roof.

Luckily, Cody wasn't high like he usually was. There were no drugs at Portland Theater, except for some pot that he had found under some seats in the front row. But Mia had thrown it out when she discovered Cody about to smoke it.

Cody, Greg, and Mia had been a good team, but the Infected trapped them in the theater. Cody's mind drifted back to when he had escaped...

_"I'm serious. If that Dozer does not leave, I will personally go out there and beat the shit out of it. Nothing better than a catapult zombie lying dead on your doorstep." Mia said calmly, leaning back in her seat. Greg smiled._

_ "You go and do that. Cody and I will protect you."_

_ "Pfft. Cody couldn't kill a Dozer if he had a rocket launcher."_

_ "Hey, I'm not that bad of a shot!" replied Cody. "And anyway, after those Infected with guns showed up, I'm not going out there anymore."_

_ "Yeah. Who knows what other kinds of zombies could be out there. I'd never heard of a Dozer until I met you two."_

_ "Fine. Scaredy-cats." Mia picked up her assault rifle and jumped over the seats, headed towards the front door."_

_ "I wasn't being serious!" Greg called. Cody suddenly felt a burning sensation in his shoulder. He looked up. A Spitter looked down at him, having burned a hole through the roof with her acid._

_ "Crap!" Greg spun around, only to be knocked down by Cody in his rush to get a gun._

_ "Watch it!" yelled Greg,clambering up onto a seat. Mia glanced back, not noticing the Dozer rushing towards the theater's glass door._

_ The door was smashed to pieces as the Dozer charged through it and grabbed Mia._

_ "No!" yelled Greg, but it was too late. The Dozer threw Mia through the air, where she hit the wall on the far side of the theater. Still concious, she grabbed onto a light so she wouldn't fall onto the seats below, breaking her back._

_ Greg pulled out a shotgun and rushed towards the Dozer. The shotgun discharged, and the Dozer fell backwards, yelling._

_ "How do you like that, you ugly fucker!" yelled Greg, firing again into the Dozer's face, killing it. While he was distracted, Infected began to climb in through the glass._

_ Cody came out of his daze, only to see Mia fall from the light, having been pulled by a Smoker. He rushed over and cut the Smoker's tongue with his fire axe, but it was too late. It had been too hard a fall for Mia. Her lifeless eyes stared back at him._

_ Greg, chased by the Infected, ran up the stairs in the lobby, headed towards the projector booth. __He shut the door and slammed the desk against it, looking around for the key._

_ Meanwhile, Cody busted through the back door to be met with a shotgun in his face._

_ The Grunt grinned and fired._

_ The bullet took off part of Cody's shoulder, and he screamed in pain. Decapitating the Grunt with his fire axe, Cody ran away from the theater, ignoring Greg's yell for help. Cody just kept running._

"Mia..." Cody muttered. He was such an idiot. Greg was probably dead, and what had Cody done? Abandoned him. It was all his fault. Cody fell backwards onto the roof, gasping for breath. He wasn't as fit as he had been four years ago.

Cody could see most of the city from his vantage point. He could almost see the coast in the distance. Cody sighed. Maine had been his favorite state.

To his left was Portland Medical, a large hospital that was probably the tallest building in town. But to Cody's surprise, he could also see searchlights to the left of the hospital. Were there possibly other survivors? Other survivors that could help him retake the theater?

Cody judged that it was a residential district, but he knew that there was probably a supermarket near there. The classic horror movie, Cody thought. Supermarkets and malls.

With one last look back at the Portland theater, Cody began to climb down to ground level, where he would make his way towards the searchlights.

Austin sat back in disbelief as the man in front of him nonchalantly cleaned up Tallie's body and covered her in a white sheet. The man then pulled a rose from nowhere and put it on top of her. Jackson was still unconcious and it seemed that the man would tend to him next.

"So, your name is?" Austing asked.

"Michael Colt. But you can call me Ghost." said the man, looking at the blood smeared over Jackson's face.

"Seems your friend Kara found a drug stash. Must've exploded when she died. Then Jackson here fell into it. I guess that's what was causing his hallucinations." Ghost wiped the blood off of Jackson's face with a handkerchief. "Just let him rest. When he wakes up he shall be fine."

"Anyway...you said you knew where my sister was." said Max, crossing his arms. Ghost's grey eyes flashed, and he scratched a scar on the back of his head, his short brown hair sticking to his skull.

"If she looks like you, then yes. Does she have brown hair that's a bit long, about to her shoulders?"

"Yes! And she has brown eyes, and she was wearing..."

"I get it. There can't be that many people left alive and uninfected that look like your sister. Anyway, this girl, Mila, was hacking away at some zombie I have never seen before, something that made this concrete stuff that stuck her feet to the ground. Before I could say anything, some little crouching zombie came behind her and stole her gun, running away with it. Probably some looter that got infected."

"I thought the zombies didn't remember what they had been before they were infected?"

"I don't know why or how he did it, but that Looter ran and Mila broke the concrete with her concrete and ran after that zombie. I suspect they're in the basement right now."

"Then let's go!" shouted Max.

"Not so fast. Some of us are going to need to stay here to watch over Jackson."

"Hmm. Cliff, Wolf, and I will stay here. Is that okay with you guys?" Austin asked.

"Yeah, I guess." Ken replied. "We'd better get going before something happens to her..." Max bolted inside the supermarket, headed straight towards the back where the stairs to the basement were.

"Guess I spoke too soon." said Ken, before she and Ghost ran into the supermarket to follow Max.

Austin sighed. He had already lost one new friend, he didn't need to lose another. He was a bit wary about this new guy, Ghost, but at least he was helping to find Mila.

Mila Abernathy bit her lip, her head racked with pain. Blood dripped from her mouth and her broken hand. That damn zombie had taken her gun, leaving her defenseless. Who knew that there would be a horde of workers in the basement.

Mila was freezing cold, as she was hiding in a meat freezer. It was locked from the inside, so Mila was free to leave anytime she wanted, but she was afraid as to what she would see when she poked her head out. Probably two times the amount of zombies she had first seen when she had clambered into the freezer.

Hunks of frozen chicken and barbecued meat hung off of the shelves. It seemed that nobody had been in here since the infection had started. Was this stuff safe to eat?

Mila looped her arms around her legs, and rocked back and forth. She would freeze if she didn't find a way to keep warm. Mila crawled through the freezer, looking for anything that could help her. There was nothing. She crawled back to the door, and after a moment of indecision, opened it and poked her head out. She was met with a lovely view of a basement full of zombies. They turned their heads and growled, and started walking towards her. A far away Boomer started waddling towards her, when suddenly, it simply exploded. Max appeared from behind it, wielding a shotgun and an assault rifle. When he saw Mila he almost freaked out.

"You're alive! Oh, thank God!"

"Um, Max...a little help here."

"Oh. Yeah." He waded through the group of zombies, decapitating them left and right. He looked like some drunk cowboy that had broken into a gun store.

Two people came down the stairs from the upper floor. Mila recognized Ken, who wasn't wasting time beating zombies over the head with a baseball bat. The other guy was unfamiliar. He had two pistols and was a good shot, seemingly nailing every zombie with a bullet through the eye.

Max reached her and he brought her into a hug.

"Hey, watch it." Mila muttered as she almost tipped over from the weight of Max. He grinned and let go.

"Glad you're okay...but I got some bad news." Max peeked out the door behind him, but Ken and the other man were keeping the Infected at bay.

"...Tallie is dead." Mila stared back at him.

"Wha..."

"Tank."

"Oh...shit. Oh, god no. Is anybody else injured?" Max almost laughed, but he remembered it was supposed to be a sad moment.

"Jackson's doped up on some drugs. Fell into it. Kara had been caring a bunch of supplies she had grabbed off of the shelves. I guess she didn't see that she had picked up someone's stash of cocaine." That made Mila smile a bit, but she soon went back to being sad.

Mila stood up and regained her composure.

"Well, brother. Let's go kill some zombies." Max grinned.

"Hell yeah!" Max kicked the door open and smashed his gun into the head of the first zombie he saw. All Mila had was a crowbar, but Max threw her his assault rifle, and she joined the fray.

"So..." grunted Ghost and he grappled with a zombie in a hazmat suit. "How long you been with these guys?"

"Not that long. About a week and a half we've all been together." Ken bashed in the nose of a zombie that stumbled towards her."

"Well, have you guys heard of Lance?"

"Who's Lance?"

"Some guy evacuating people up at the hospital. He and this other guy have a helicopter, and they bring people to some military base farther north, almost up in Canada."

"Hmmm...I'll ask Austin about that."

A few minutes later, the basement was totally cleared of zombies. Every Infected lay dead on the ground, head smashed in or bullet through the brain. Mila and Max came over to the stairs, and Mila stopped in front of Ghost.

"Who're you?" Mila asked. Ghost extended his hand.

"Michael Colt. But every calls me Ghost."

"Thanks for helping Max rescue me."

"Yeah, I guess we did. But what if we had taken longer? I can bet that freezer is pretty cold inside. Find a better hiding place next time." With that, Ghost turned and walked up the stairs."

"Hmmm." Ken followed him as Mila scratched the back of her neck.

"Well, we'd better get back to everyone else before something bad happens."

**Author's Note: Sorry to anybody who reads my stories, 'cause I took a two week break for Spring Break. Well, here's two new characters, both of whom will have an impact on the story. Unfortunately...there may be another death soon. Well, you can always tell me your favorite character and that might influence who dies and who lives...**


End file.
